Kantar research shows that brands with an actualized purpose have experienced twice the growth of competitors. It’s understandable since younger adults want to use brands that have a point of view and stand for something.

It’s not enough to have a singular brand identity. Brands must have values that mirror those of their consumers. And that’s not so easy to do. Some 76% of marketers think their organization has a defined purpose, but only one in 10 have a corporate purpose statement that’s backed by a meaningful activation plan.

About 60% of consumers think brands should post about their opinions on social media, according to a Sprout Social study. Thirty-nine percent of consumers think brands should donate to social causes, and 37% think they should encourage their followers to do the same.

But standing for your brand purpose can be harder than you think. Take for example the McDonald’s stunt to flip their iconic “M” to “W” during International Women’s Day. Their female friendly action stirred up negative sentiments about lack of pay equality and sexual harassment with the company.

Kantar advises brands they must articulate their purpose, infuse their organization both internally and externally with their purpose and then amplify their purpose. That’s still a tall order for many brands.

Everybody is talking about influencer marketing. What is it? Who are influencers? How can your brand participate? Influencer marketing has been around for a long time but today, because of social media and content marketing, it has taken on a whole new importance. According to a Linqia study, 86% of marketers used influencer marketing in 2017, and 92% found it effective.

Influencer marketing focuses on using key bloggers, influencers, celebrities, and thought leaders to drive your brand’s message by leveraging their influence to a larger market. Brand trust is at an all time low. Nielsen reports 92 percent of people trust recommendations from individuals—even if they don’t know them—over brands. The result is that consumers will trust influencers over brands themselves.

Here’s some important tips on getting started:

Matchmaking. It is important you choose an influencer who shares the same target audience as your brand. You need to segment your brand based on likes, interests, and hobbies. Then find influencers that appeal to your brand personas. There are a couple of ways to find influencers – either do the homework yourself or hire an agency to do it for you.

Size of Influencer Audiences. The audience size can determine effectiveness. Engagement may be stronger with micro influencers than macro influencers. Micro influencers have an audience size of 1,000 – 1 million. Macro influencers have more than a million followers. Research has shown as the number of followers increase, engagement decreases. You are over ten times more likely to get a like or a comment when using micro influencers. However, if your goal is awareness, a macro influencer might be your best choice because of their overall reach.

Know Your Platform. Different social platforms deliver varying audiences, such as age, gender, or special interests. The type of content is important to your brand such as photography, text, or video. Instagram has become dominant in influencer marketing. According to the Linqui study, 92% of marketers say that Instagram is the most important to their influencer marketing strategy in 2018, followed by Facebook, blogs and YouTube.

Budgets. This is tricky. Influencer costs can range from a couple of hundred dollars to millions, because of factors such as platform, exclusivity, engagement rate, following size and usage rights. Some influencers might even accept product as payment. One thing to note, the more expensive your product, the more your campaign will cost. The average cost of a post, with someone who has less than 100,000 followers, is estimated at $250-300. Some marketers estimate the cost of an Instagram influencer based on $1,000 per 100,000 followers. FYI: Kim Kardashian reportedly charges over $250,000 for an Instagram photo. In 2018, 30% of marketers report that they will spend between $25K – $50K per program and 25% report that they will spend between $50K – $100K per program.

Influencer-produced content. Some of the decisions about a campaign include the number of posts, who creates the content, and cross-posting to the influencer’s other social media sites. It is important to know that you have to be comfortable with the influencer’s content style.

RED LETTER DAY is back for the third year with all new trends about marketing to women with a theme of “Stories Matter.” Join us for a half-day mini conference focused on reaching the Lipstick Economy, the 100 million women who control 85% of all consumer purchases.

We have assembled an amazing group of marketing experts again this year. We’ll be talking about important issues with real marketers who can offer real solutions.

Influencer Marketing: How to identify influencers in your market and get them to help you